There were a lot of firsts and rarities experienced in the Owen Sound Attack’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds before 4,803 fans at the Essar Centre Friday night.

It was the first time the Attack had been outshot in these playoffs. It was their first postseason loss. And it was their first loss in overtime.

In fact, the Attack were only outshot seven times all season. Eight now, as the Greyhounds put 39 pucks on goal Friday night as they evened the OHL Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.

The workload was goaltender Olivier Lafreniere’s heaviest of the year.

Attack assistant coach Al Letang said his team talks about having a hero every night. In Round 1 against the Knights, Brett McKenzie and Alan Lyszczarczyk got to play big cheese in extra time.

Friday, it was Greyhounds captain Tim Gettinger with the game-stopping dagger.

It was advantage Attack early on Friday. Just 13 seconds into the game, a high-sticking call sent Taylor Raddysh to the box and Owen Sound to the power play.

The Hounds would smother the Attack’s man-advantage unit, and draw a power play of their own in the process.

An awkward bounce in front of Lafreniere led to the game’s first goal, credited to overage forward Hayden Verbeek.

The goal put the Greyhounds up 1-0 midway through the first period, their first lead of the series.

But there was nothing awkward about Verbeek’s second goal minutes later.

Defenceman Mac Hollowell sent Verbeek and Gettinger in on a two-on-one, and Verbeek finished the rush by snapping a shot over Lafreniere’s shoulder.

After one period, Sault Ste. Marie were outshooting the Attack 11-6.

Suzuki's PP goal with less than two minutes on the clock sends the @AttackOHL to OT for the 3rd time this postseason. Brett McKenzie and Alan Lyszczarczyk have played the hero role previous.

Owen Sound would get a goal back early in the second. A hard-working shift from the Attack’s second line had the Hounds defence hemmed in before Ethan Szypula whipped a no-look pass from behind the net out front to McKenzie.

McKenzie quickly snapped the shot past Matthew Villalta to make it 2-1.

The Attack drew even on Maksim Sushko’s second goal of the playoffs. The Belarusian picked up a loose puck in the slot, then picked the top corner.

After Game 1, coach Todd Gill told reporters his team needed to be smarter when it came to taking penalties against the Hounds’ sharp power play.

Kevin Hancock didn’t get the message. With the second period winding down, Hancock gave Frost a shot in the neutral zone. Both officials jumped all over the infraction, sending Sault Ste. Marie to the power play once more.

With just over a second left in the second period, Taylor Raddysh tipped Conor Timmins’ point shot past Lafreniere to put the Greyhounds back on top 3-2.

In the third period, Nick Suzuki, the London-raised star, drew a penalty for Owen Sound and Brady Lyle wasted no time blasting a point shot home to tie the game 3-3, his first goal of the playoffs.

At the 11-minute mark, the Hounds scored a highlight-reel tic-tac-toe goal. Morgan Frost dropped the puck back to Taylor Raddysh, who sent it cross-ice to Rasmus Sandin, who sent it back to Frost, wide open on the back door.

The goal seemed to snap the Essar Centre crowd back to reality, the home team is good again.

But then, less than two minutes away from taking Game 2, Boris Katchouk sent the Attack back to the power play with a high-sticking penalty.

In a scene becoming familiar for the Attack in these playoffs, Suzuki’s power-play goal evened the game with 1:25 left, sending the Attack to overtime for the third time in the postseason.

But the Attack’s late-game heroics weren’t enough against the Greyhounds.

The extra frame didn’t last long.

Just over a minute in, Verbeek shook McKenzie behind the net with a quick pivot and found Gettinger all alone in front. The rangy forward did the rest and sent Sault fans home buzzing.

Just like that, the series is tied 1-1 headed back to the Scenic City.

“You don’t want to trade chance for chance with these guys . . . probably gets into their bread and butter” said Letang ahead of the series.

The Attack spoiled three Greyhounds leads Friday night, but couldn’t take one of their own.

Lafreniere got in front of 34 of the Greyhounds’ 39 shots, while Villalta stopped 28 of the Attack’s 32 chances.

The Attack return to Owen Sound for two games at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre. The puck drops for Game 3 Monday at 7 p.m.

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